34 THE BROCKLESBY HOUNDS. [1817 



the Southwells, and towards Barnoldl)y beck, till the 

 hounds turned at the drain dividiuQ- Waltham and Bar- 

 noldby, and ran over Welbeck Hill as if for Beelsby. 

 Crossing the Irby road with Beelsby on the left, hounds, 

 after momentary pause, went away nearly to Swallow and 

 marked their fox to ground. Smith says that they went 

 a great pace, and that Fleecer, Warble, and Sanguine led 

 the pack. Hounds killed no fewer than five foxes that 

 day, but this was the best gallop. 



There was a very hard day from Chase Hill on 

 November 28th, hounds running from fox to fox, till it 

 was time to stop them, and the next day was equally 

 fatiguing for hounds and horses, the former being stopped 

 at Barrow when it was quite dark, and after they had 

 killed two brace of foxes. 



From December 10th to 15th frost stopped hunting, 

 and then a good hunting run from Irby Dale on December 

 20th is recorded. After a few turns in covert the fox 

 went away past Laceby to Laceby Cottagers' Plats and 

 back again, with Laceby on the left, to Irby Dales, where 

 hounds changed and ran from fox to fox for some time. 

 The pack faced the open again on the Swallow side, and 

 after running in and out of the Dales for a while, where 

 the fox took several short turns, hounds divided, the body 

 of the pack being on the line of a fresh fox. There was 

 some delay in getting them together again on the track 

 of the hunted animal, who led them nearly to Barnoldby, 

 then close up to Laceby, and, with Irby village on the 

 left, back into the Dales again. The covert was very 

 foiled, and hunting difficult, but at length hounds forced 

 their fox away to Riby Park, where Smith stopped them, 

 owing to so many of them being tired. He had taken 

 out thirty couples of hounds, including a lot that were 

 short of work, in the belief that it would be an easy day ; 

 but, as often happens, it proved a very hard one indeed. 



The Grainsby House fixture, two days later, also 

 proved a good one, for they began with a sharp burst of 

 exceptional brilliancy, and followed this up with a good 



